Naperville man 'attuned to helping veterans'
When Mike Barbour shared his reflections on Memorial Day 10 years ago, he was plagued by vivid memories of the sensations of serving in Vietnam but also troubled by faded recollections of the people he met.
He felt blessed to be alive and determined to carry on, he wrote, as "a living memorial" to the sacrifices made by others.
That all remains the same today, but Barbour, 70, has done much to give back to fellow veterans since then.
For the past six years, he's served as the Naperville Township veterans advocate, functioning as a one-man concierge to connect veterans to health services, housing, counseling and other help to which they're entitled because they served in the military.
"It seems like it's getting busier and busier," Barbour said about the job he takes on out of gratitude to fellow veterans and survivors' guilt at having lived through the war.
"It means that at least the word's getting out that there's someone that can help."
Recently, Barbour persuaded Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873 in Naperville to donate money to help an ill veteran pay for a court filing that could protect his house from foreclosure.
He also organized a monthly visit to Naperville by a mobile medical unit from Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital that began in January. He said each month, 10 to 14 veterans sign up for VA health care and seven to 10 others file new medical claims.
Some of his fellow Vietnam veterans are experiencing health problems linked to Agent Orange, a blend of herbicides used during the war.
An Army veteran who served in Vietnam from December 1967 to December 1968, Barbour has been there and done that. He survived a bleeding disorder, abbreviated as ITP, that causes the destruction of platelets, which help with normal blood clotting.
"I am more attuned to helping veterans since in 2007 I almost died from Agent Orange complications," he said.
"I feel that I'm still here, so I have to give back and make sure that my life wasn't saved for nothing."
But Barbour doesn't just give help; he also receives it.
After 43 years he admitted to himself - at the prompting of his wife, Janet - that he needed help for post-traumatic stress.
He now receives counseling from the DuPage County Vet Center twice a month and from the VA every six weeks.
"It helps me to go through all this stuff," he said.
But like many veterans on Memorial Day, he still sifts through a jumble of memories and missing moments that remain from his 11 months in the service.